Strengthening Your Cybersecurity Posture: The Importance of Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing

Combining Automated Scans and Human Expertise to Identify and Address Security Weaknesses

In today's ever-changing digital climate, cybersecurity threats are on the rise, and it is crucial for organizations to regularly assess their security needs. Combining a vulnerability assessment with a penetration test can provide a more comprehensive understanding of an organization's security posture and help identify potential weaknesses that may be exploited by attackers.?

A vulnerability assessment involves using automated tools to scan an organization's network and systems for known vulnerabilities. This type of assessment can help identify weaknesses in software, configurations, and system settings that could be exploited by attackers.?

On the other hand, a penetration test involves attempting to exploit vulnerabilities in an organization's network and systems in a controlled manner to determine the effectiveness of its security controls. This type of test is typically conducted by human testers and can help identify weaknesses that may not have been detected by automated tools.?

We suggest you start with a vulnerability assessment and follow it up with a penetration test.??

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Vulnerability Assessment:?

Layer 3 Communications' vulnerability assessments combine scanning for known security flaws with our extensive cybersecurity and network operations expertise to evaluate systems for weaknesses. The evaluation then classifies those weaknesses according to likelihood and impact, giving our clients a clear picture of their cybersecurity risks. We’ve supported large enterprises, education and state and local governments with these assessments.?

We combine automated scans with a manual assessment of network elements. This hands-on approach allows us to bring our extensive experience in network communications to bear in evaluating our clients' networks' security.?

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Penetration (Pen) Testing?

Penetration Testing, or ethical hacking, is the art of attacking systems to ensure that they are as secure as possible. Layer 3 Communications can provide advanced adversary emulation, to help verify that your security infrastructure is working as intended.??

Our expert penetration testing team simulates an actual attack on your network to educate you on avenues of attack that you may have failed to defend yourself against. These vulnerabilities can exist in operating systems, services and application flaws, improper configurations or risky user behavior. Our attacks give you an excellent picture of how a hacker would attempt to gain access to your network, further allowing you to strengthen your security. ?

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The objective of any penetration test is to look for vulnerabilities in your network that you haven't identified, exploit them, and determine their impact. Our services go beyond that, and provide both in-depth reporting of our results, as well as a comprehensive plan to address the issues discovered. Let Layer 3 Communications give you the trust in your systems that you need.??

With its extensive cybersecurity and network operations expertise, Layer 3 Communications can provide in-depth vulnerability assessments, pen tests and reporting, allowing clients to strengthen their security and gain the trust they need in their systems. For more information about how Layer 3 Communications can assist, please fill out the form by clicking here.